Page 147 of The Secrets We Hide
“No!” Emmy screamed.
Jude felt it all at once: the blinding pain, the dizziness, the nausea, the hard impact as she slammed into the floor. Then she felt her body lift like a rag doll when Russell kicked her in the stomach. Then he kicked her again. Then again.
“Stop!” Emmy dragged Jude into Myrna’s room. “Leave her alone!”
Emmy fell back against the wall, taking Jude with her. Everything was spinning. Jude’s gaze skipped like a stone across the water. Myrna’s wedding quilt, the old painting of the farm, the ceiling fan, the dressing table, the knotted rug on the floor.
“Jude, please,” Emmy begged. “Stay with me. Please stay with me.”
Jude felt Emmy trying to lift her. She swallowed the vomit in her mouth. Willed herself not to pass out. She wiped the blood from her eyes. Her nose was broken. She coughed. Blood dripped down her throat. She tried to hold on to Emmy, but Russell snatched her out of Jude’s hands.
In one swift motion, he’d turned Emmy around, snaked his arm around her neck, and pressed the pistol to the side of her head.
“No!” Jude yelled. The pain in her body was gone. She was consumed by fear. “Don’t hurt her. Please. Take me. I’ll do whatever you want.”
“Jude—” Emmy choked on the name as Russell tightened his arm against her windpipe. She clawed her nails into his skin. Gasped for air. Her feet kicked out.
“Get up.” Russell smacked the muzzle against Emmy’s head. Like any predator, he’d figured out Jude’s weakest point. “Open the safe.”
“I—” Jude forced herself to take a breath. She had to concentrate. To strategize. “I don’t know the combination.”
Russell loosened his grip around Emmy’s neck, but only enough to let her speak.
“My b-birthday,” Emmy stuttered. “Oh-three-one-six-eight-four.”
Jude’s knees could barely hold her up. She put all her attention on the dressing table beside the closet. The heavy wooden jewelry box. Sharp corners. Hard edges. She wiped the blood from her nose. Tried to steady herself. To force her stomach to calm.
Emmy gasped. Her mouth opened, but she couldn’t form words. She started taking in quick, shallow breaths. She wasn’t choking. She had started to hyperventilate. Jude understood why a few seconds later. She heard the heavy roar of a V8 engine inside of a Clifton County sheriff’s cruiser.
Russell heard it, too. He dragged Emmy to the window. Kept to the shadows as he looked down at the driveway. “Shit!”
The screen door screeched open, then closed. Emmy’s teeth started to chatter. Her skin went pale. She looked at Jude, begging, pleading for her to stop this.
Russell whispered, “Get rid of him!”
“Mom?” Cole called from the kitchen. “Aunt Jude?”
Russell started to drag Emmy toward the door.
“I’m changing for bed!” Jude struggled to keep the trill out of her voice. “Your mom’s in the shower.”
Only Emmy’s short, sharp breaths filled the silence. Cole had grown up in this house. Between the banging pipes and roar of water hitting the galvanized tub, no one could take a shower without everyone knowing.
“Okay.” Cole’s voice sounded strained. He understood the danger. “I’m gonna take this cobbler to Uncle Tommy. Is that okay?”
Emmy started to whimper. Russell tightened his arm around her throat.
“That’s good, sweetheart.” Jude’s heart was beating so fast she felt dizzy. “Tell him I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”
Emmy gulped, holding her breath in the silence. Cole’s bootswalked across the kitchen floor. The hinges on the screen door squeaked. A few seconds later, the V8 turned over. Gravel crunched under tires as he backed out of the driveway.
Russell told Jude, “Open that goddam safe.”
Emmy kept chasing her breath, trying to calm herself. She knew that Cole was going to park on the street so that it sounded like he’d left. That he was calling for backup. That he wouldn’t wait outside the house while they were in danger. She had been gripping Russell’s arm to keep him from choking her, but now she released her right hand. Slowly reached toward her back. She was going to grab her Glock in Russell’s waistband.
She wouldn’t make it. Russell would pull the trigger before Emmy could.
Jude swallowed the blood in her mouth.
